May 24, 2014

Saturday Inspiration: Hoberman's Expanding Sphere

The print in question refers to Hoberman's Expanding Sphere, a mechanical structure made of curved links joined by pivots into scissor pairs that allow the structure to open and close, fold and unfold, expand and contract.

The structure designed by Chuck Hoberman is essentially a spherical polyhedron known as icosadodecahedron, that is a geometrical form made with inrtersecting circles. The development of geometric transformation is enabled by a rigorous design and engineering of hinged mechanisms capable of being folded without colliding with neighbouring components.

Hoberman has focused throughout his career on transformable design, creating objects and structures that, merging together art, architecture, design and engineering, change size and shape. He has applied his transformable, retractable and shape-shifting principles to toys (the sphere is well-known for being a popular toy, but remains a fascinating object for kids and grown ups alike), structures/buildings (the Expanding Sphere, 1992, at the Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, New Jersey and the Expanding Geodesic Dome, 1997, at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, among the others), and active building skins that respond electronically and mechanically to the weather.